Alcohol consumption is responsible for 3.3 million deaths globally or nearly
6% of all deaths. Alcohol use contributes to both communicable and noncommunicable
diseases, as well as violence and injuries. The purpose of this
review is to discuss, in the context of the expansion of transnational alcohol
corporations and harms associated with alcohol use, policy options for regulating
exposure to alcohol marketing. We first provide an overview of the
public health problem of harmful alcohol consumption and describe the association
between exposure to alcohol marketing and alcohol consumption.
We then discuss the growth and concentration of global alcohol corporations
and their marketing practices in low- and middle-income countries,
as well as in higher-income societies. We review the use and effectiveness
of various approaches for regulating alcohol marketing in various countries
before discussing challenges and opportunities to protect public health.
